Epileptic Neurons Go Wireless

摘要

The idea that "neurons that fire together, wire together" is well established in developmental neuroscience. It is based on the finding that neurons that fire action potentials at the same time are more likely to develop synaptic connections with eachother. In epilepsy, this process is taken to an unhealthy extreme: Neurons that fire together during seizures wire together through a process called axonal sprouting. The sprouted axons provide additional positive feedback to the neurons in the epileptic network, facilitating future seizures. On page 532 of this issue, Bernard and colleagues report that some of the positive feedback that underlies the epileptic condition may be formed "wirelessly"--that is, using a mechanism that does not involve growth of new axons or synaptic connections. They demonstrate that loss of an inhibitory K~+ ion current called the A current may contribute to the positive feedback that facilitates future epileptic seizures.